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SALT LAKE CITY — We're rounding up the top stories of 2016 for all of Utah's major sports teams, and of course, the Utah Jazz are no exception. Here's what our sports staff thought were the most important stories in Jazzland in the calendar year of 2016.
5. Quin Snyder extension
Quin Snyder, now at the helm of Utah in his third season, earned a long-term contract extension through the 2020-21 season in May after his work in turning around the franchise after the Ty Corbin era. By all accounts, players, coaches and the front office love working with Snyder. Snyder's taken what was the 25th-ranked offense and 29th-ranked defense in 2013-14 and turned it to the 10th-ranked offense and fourth-ranked defense in 2016-17. Yes, the talent is drastically better, but keeping Snyder around was a priority accomplished for the Jazz organization in 2016.
4. Jerry Sloan diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, Lewy body dementia
Jerry Sloan, the Hall of Fame head coach who led the Jazz for 23 seasons, revealed a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia in April. The diseases have no cure.
After the report, KSL's Kathy Aiken visited with Sloan and his wife Tammy at their house in Riverton.
Sloan, to his immense credit, is still attending Jazz and even SLC Stars games when he has the opportunity. He's a legendary coach with some of the most innovative and successful offenses in NBA history. He was honored with the 2016 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award in June.
3. Jazz pivot to win-now in offseason
We're wrapping up a whole bunch of big personnel moves in this point, which signaled a change in approach for the Jazz. After years of a rebuilding approach, the team made several "win-now" moves in the 2016 offseason.
The first, and probably most important move, was acquiring George Hill for the 12th pick of the 2016 NBA Draft in a three-team deal. Hill, though he's been injured much of the season, has fit the team's needs like a glove while on the court. He's averaged 20 points per game since joining the Jazz, and the team is 8-3 in those 11 contests.
Signing Joe Johnson was a surprise move. After being released by the Brooklyn Nets, Johnson had previously shunned the Cleveland Cavaliers for a bigger role with the Miami Heat. In the 2016 offseason, though, he chose to head to Utah for a leadership and bench role behind Rodney Hood and Gordon Hayward.
The team also traded for Boris Diaw, absorbing the big man's salary into their salary cap space as a favor to the San Antonio Spurs. Diaw's been worth his money so far, though, starting 19 games for the Jazz. And if he's had anything to do with Rudy Gobert's increased production, he's been a bargain.
Finally, the team also traded away Trey Burke in exchange for a second-round pick. Burke mostly fell out of the rotation in Utah, playing behind Shelvin Mack and Raul Neto thanks to his questionable defense and shot selection. Now, Burke's putting up 4.6 points and 1.2 assists in 11.8 minutes per game for the Washington Wizards.
2. Jazz miss playoffs
For a while, it looked like the Jazz were a nearly sure bet to make the Western Conference playoffs. At one point late in March, data prognosticators FiveThirtyEight gave then a 96 percent chance of making it to the postseason.
And then some really bad things happened. The Jazz lost to the Warriors in overtime, to the Spurs by two points and to a depleted Clippers team in overtime to send the season down to one game — an April 11 matchup against Dallas. Thanks to bad shooting, injuries and Dallas coach Rick Carlisle's last bit of magic, the Jazz lost the critical matchup 101-92.
The small silver lining here is the Hill trade. It's not at all clear that the Pacers and Hawks would have given the Jazz Hill had the pick been a non-lottery selection. Still, it was very disappointing.
1. New-look Jazz to play in new-look building
The big news here was the announcement, approval and beginning of construction on renovations to Vivint Arena throughout the year. In May, Larry H. Miller Group's exploration of arena renovation was reported to be at over $100 million. Salt Lake City approved a property tax break in June for the $125 million privately funded project. And in September, the plans for the arena renovations were revealed. Construction nearly immediately began. The renovated arena will host the Jazz and their fans for the next 20 years.
And while everything around the court will be changing, the Jazz figured they'd update their on-court branding as well. The team finally ditched the mountain logo after years of strange color adjustments, moving the more familiar note logo to the primary logo slot. Four new uniforms were announced, including a sleeved retro look. And finally, the court itself was changed, with a brighter hardwood surface and new logos and colors printed everywhere.
In the end, the Jazz's franchise looks very different than it did at the end of 2015. We'll see what changes 2017 has in store.
